@jayhawk-007
Oh, absolutely I believe we were running the high-low, or more accurately the Carolina passing offense, or more accurately, what evolved into what Dean called “Multiple Offenses.”
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/714867.Basketball
Dean, Gutt and LB reputedly evolved it early.
But many disciples joined in over time.
Start with Iba’s High Low.
Add Dean Smith action taken from Bruce Drake’s Shuffle offense being run by the coach at Air Force when Dean assisted there.
Add in any other kinds of action that surface from time to time.
Shake well and pour.
Self never stops running it. He apparently learned some of it from Paul Hansen. He says he learned some from LB. He apparently learned some from Eddie. He apparently learned more of it from his assistants that have worked with Hartman and Haskins.
He just runs it out of different formations and with less or more passing, and with less or more action, and with different kinds of action.
One of the problems board rats have with the High Low is that they think it is only 3 combos and two posts lined up in the 3 man perimeter and the two posts in the lane.
Not correct IMHO.
The Multiple Offense aka Dean’s Carolina passing offense is operating when Perry plays on the low block, or on a high block, or at the top of the circle, or as a low wing outside.
Notice Self calls Perry a stretch 4 when he is going outside and shooting it or creating from there. He doesn’t call it another offense.
It helps me to think about it in terms of a basic formation (what some are calling the Four Flat) and shifts because I played a little football when I was a kid.
If you read Dean’s old book and the section on multiple offense he makes it crystal clear. He had a keen mind and he didn’t waste words.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/714867.Basketball
Regarding you notion that Self can’t recruit point guards and centers because of his system, well, ummm, I kind of bought into that early on, but once the top centers started turning him down in droves despite his bigs doing well in the pros and despite him winning a ring, and despite KU having the rep of Big Man U, well, I finally had to awaken to the possibility of other more fitting explanations.
So: what I did was I looked around and said where were these top centers going?
I did not see them going to better coaches.
And I did not see them going to programs that necessarily produced better more successful pros bigs.
And so I kind of ruled those drivers out.
What did that leave?
Well, there had to be some kind of incentives involved.
At first in my naivety, I figure it was cash under the table.
But then I read some books about business of college basketball and about Big Shoe.
It wasn’t as simple as cash in the palm, or a key in the hand and a typed note with an address and a safe deposit box number.
No, the game had scaled up and changed and there were Petro-ShoeCos and agents and agent runners that I had not known anything about.
I still don’t really understand how it all works.
All I can say is that I more or less doubt that Bill Self’s offense is the pivotal driver for keeping OAD centers and OAD point guards away.
But I don’t believe in any conspiracy theories I have ever heard involving basketball recruiting.
So far, I believe most everything that is driving the apparent asymmetries in recruiting is likely legal and just not very transparent for some reason. I suspect those persons on the inside understand very clearly how it all works and would blow the whistle without hesitation if any of it were really illegal, or clear violation of NCAA rules.
Since they don’t, and since I know of no evidence to the contrary, so far, I can only infer that things are legal and just not very transparent for whatever reasons.
I suspect in time we will come to understand much better how the system distributes talent as it does.
But until that time comes, I will have to live with the lack of transparency, and yet also recognize that Bill Self’s offense just doesn’t seem like a very likely driver in all of this.
Rock Chalk!
